Chaffee Mentors » CCM+ Group Activities

May 28th, CCM+ Group Body Awareness with Erin McIntire at Rebound Therapy

Menessah Nelson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:25:42 +0000

CCM+ Group Photo of Mentors Jen, Scot, Mentee Jess, & Mentors Beth & Bonnie

Teens and Fitness: The importance of recognizing the effects of daily life on our bodies

Many teenagers in Chaffee County spend most of their summers (or life for that matter) watching TV, sitting around with friends, or talking on the phone. Where’s the activity? Even for those youth not interested traditional sports, our area offers a wealth of both indoor and outdoor alternative activities, including pilates, yoga, hiking, kayaking, rafting, biking.

Mentors Plus seeks to help youth transform their sedentary lifestyles and get more involved in local activities. On Thursday, May 28th, six youth and mentors attended our Body Awareness group activity held at the Salida Pilates Studio. CCM+ Mentor Erin McIntire, who also works with Adventures in Body Awareness with Rebound Therapy, donated her time to teach us how to be more aware of our bodies, stretch properly using core muscles, and relax our bodies when tense. So often we go through the movements in our lives without paying attention. Erin taught the group how to pay attention to the muscles we use throughout the day like bending over to pick up a box or blow drying our hair. The strength exercises we did were subtle but powerful. CCM+ mentor, Jen Walters, said, “What a great activity, the movements were so little, but the next day I was slightly sore!”

The relaxation skills we learned are critical for teens. Most teenagers have difficulty getting to know the effects their habits have on their minds as well as their bodies. Researchers continue to reveal the effects of stress, anxiety, and negativity on the body (for examples, see Insight Journal and StressCenter.com). Many emotional states can have dramatic physical effects on the body. For instance, individuals with unresolved negative episodes throughout their lives may be more likely to get cancer. [Read more at National Cancer Institute and Psych Central.]

So, let’s get those youth out of the house and into great activities like yoga and Pilates to build mental, emotional, and physical fitness. We are thankful to Erin for taking the time to teach our group a few simple ways to be more aware of our bodies in our daily lives and letting us know we are capable of more than normally we do. We look forward to future activities to learn more about body awareness.

Match Beth and Jessica share a moment of core muscle understanding

2nd Birthday Bash Potluck, Sunday, May 3, 2009

Menessah Nelson — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:46:32 +0000

: Happy Birthday Erik, Scot, Kyle!

Who doesn’t want to celebrate a Birthday!

Chaffee County Mentors Plus has created our quarterly Birthday Bash Potluck’s for Matches and their families. We were eager to get more family involvement for the program and this is how Birthday Bashes were developed! We celebrate every other 2 months, the last 3 months Birthdays (for example: May celebrated March, April, and May Birthdays).

We had a terrific turn out at our 2nd Bash. About 20 mentors, mentees, spouses, and family members attended “Italian” style. Each mentor brought a delicious Italian snack and some families even contributed as well! We celebrated with Erik, Scot, Kyle, Jamison, and Selina with a lovely buttercream covered cake from Safeway. The event took place at the newly named, Salida Community Center’s downstairs (aka Senior Center).

This gives our program and families a chance to get to know one another and eat some great food!

Please join us next time for our June, July, and August Birthday’s!

: Practicing his babysitting skills!

: Jessica is all smiles!

Our Local Community Center

Menessah Nelson — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:30:54 +0000

Choppin' Veggies

Hello All,
First, I would like to greatly thank Kyle Johan for teaching the kiddo’s cooking last Thursday. He did terrific! Also to all the mentors and help that I had-you guys are the bomb! Thanks to Scot for hooking us up at the Center for this to happen.

It has been suggested to us by Susan, director at the Senior Center that if we have some kiddo’s that could come and help paint or even staff, that they are willing to work out a deal with us on the use of the venue. They were ever so kind to let us use the venue for free and for our program this is really helpful. It has 2 terrific kitchens and plenty of space!

Although it’s last minute, Susan is buying paint for the rooms today. She is asking that we have ANYONE come and paint after 4pm on Tues and Wed. We could use all the help we can get. This is a terrific opportunity and I strongly ENCOURAGE mentors if they are hanging out with their kids either of these days, to PLEASE take them over to paint for a few hours. Scot Zellmer, our mentor will be there those days and is trying to recruit all he can. Please help us make this happen! The more we have, the quicker it gets done. Please call Scot at 221-1404 or email him at his email (attached) to this email.

For kiddo’s that need community service, please use this as a opportunity for that.

The Senior Center is also changing it’s name and trying to get a larger varied crowd in there and this is why they are looking at getting as many kiddo’s involved in this project. They don’t want to be known just as the Senior Center, but a People’s Community Center. They will start showing independent films down there every Thursday to begin the opening of a crowd. We are hoping that our programs, especially CCM+, will being using and working with them more.

Thank you for your help and consideration. Please pass on to those interested.
Cheers,

Menessah Nelson, MA, LPC
Chaffee County Department of Human Services
Intensive Family & Youth Therapist/Caseworker
Mentors Plus Program Manager